United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to India on Saturday for a three-day visit taking in Kolkata, Agra, Jaipur and New Delhi.
He will discuss energy security, trade and defence cooperation with senior Indian officials, US State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement on Tuesday. The visit comes as relations between US President Donald Trump and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi continue to fluctuate.
So what is Rubio’s visit all about, and is he trying to mend bridges between the two nations?
Here is more about why Rubio’s visit to India is significant. Rubio is spending a few days in India ahead of a meeting of foreign ministers from the informal Quad security forum comprising the US, Japan, Australia and India in New Delhi on May 26.
The Quad, or the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, has been referred to as “the Asian version of NATO”. It was formed as a response to the rising power of China and has carried out joint military and naval exercises in the Indo-Pacific region.
Rubio’s visit also comes days after the Trump administration moved to dismiss US criminal fraud charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani in a case in which he is accused of bribing Indian officials with as much as $265m to secure contracts and of lying to US investors to secure a solar energy project in India, allegations that his company has long denied.
The case was dropped by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) after Adani pledged a $10bn investment in the US. In an X post on Monday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced another 30-day extension of a sanctions waiver allowing purchases of Russian seaborne oil to aid “energy-vulnerable” countries hit by the Iran war, reversing plans not to grant an extension.
Bessent said the Treasury was issuing the 30-day general licence after a previous waiver lapsed on May 16. It allows temporary access to Russian oil and petroleum products stranded on tankers without violating severe US sanctions on Russian oil majors, he said.
This extension has temporarily eased pressure on major Russian oil buyers such as India, which has previously faced US criticism for its reliance on discounted Russian crude.
Both these moves – the dismissal of charges against Adani and the extension of the sanctions waiver on Russian oil already at sea – can be seen as attempts to boost relations with India, observers said.
Rubio’s meeting with other leaders of the Quad will also be seen as a sign of the US reaffirming its commitment to the Indo-Pacific region.Analysts say that Rubio’s visit to India is part of Washington’s attempt to mend bilateral ties with New Delhi following tension between Trump and Modi last year.
Sadanand Dhume, senior fellow for India, Pakistan and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations (CEFR), wrote in an article for the CEFR website on Thursday that Rubio is going to India in “repair” mode.
Last October, Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran told The Wire: “The 25-year upward trajectory of India-US relations has certainly plateaued, if not started declining”
Source: Here
